Karachi: The left-arm pacer Junaid Khan is close to recovering from a knee injury and has resumed bowling along with some ground training.

Pakistan Cricket Board's medical panel confirmed today that Junaid, who was forced to return home from Dubai at the start of the one-day series against Australia due to a knee injury he picked up during training, has been responding well to the treatment.

"Junaid has responded very well to rehabilitation work being done on him at the National cricket academy," Dr Sohail Saleem, the General Manager Sports Medicine PCB said.

"Recent scans on his right knee show the edema surrounding his initial defects have certainly reduced. His workload has now been gradually increased and since last one week he has been doing bowling with some ground training without any complaints.

"After consultation with an orthopaedic surgeon next week, he will be ground tested for his availability for any form of competitive cricket," the doctor added.

They were fears that Junaid might be ruled out of the World Cup, even though the selectors have named him in the preliminary squad of 30 players.

"It is good news for Pakistan cricket because Junaid is a intelligent bowler and has been in the forefront for Pakistan since last year," a board official said.

Saleem said batsman Sohaib Maqsood had also shown marked improvement in the function of his hand after sustaining a wrist fracture during the one-day series in UAE last month.

Pakistan is already struggling to get their senior bowlers, Saeed Ajmal and Muhammad Hafeez cleared for the World Cup before the deadline to submit teams after both were reported for illegal bowling actions this year by the International Cricket Council.